A Cat the most destructive, invasive predators in the natural world
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The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance. I'm going to talk about cats because your adorable pet cat is also considered one of the most destructive invasive predators in the natural world. Despite warnings from international organisations, we still have a great affinity for the animal. They're a major part of our home life, but do we know exactly what they get up to when they leave the house? My next guest says we need to change how we deal with cats. Senior Project Manager of Breeding Waders EIP, Owen Murphy. Owen, good morning to you. Good morning, Owen.
What makes cats considered invasive predators?
Can you hear me? Oh, great. Sorry, I couldn't hear you there for a second. Do you realise the trouble you're going to get into now, saying that we need to be wary of our cats? They're very much loved.
Yeah, look, we face this thing when it comes to predation and predation pressure on some of our ground nesting birds. we're constantly having these conversations. So it's certainly not the first time I've talked to people about cats and the ability of cats to hunt and kill a lot of our native species.
So these lovely cats that go out with their beautiful collars and their brushed coats and they're well fed, they can't be sated, can they? They're still looking for prey at night.
Yeah, in a lot of cases. And I suppose there's two aspects to this. We have domesticated cats that live at home and are fed and are looked after. And we also have a very high population of feral cats. So they're domestic cats, but they live in the wild or they live semi-wild. They come in and out of houses occasionally to get food, but they spend a lot of their time hunting. So it's probably useful to distinguish between the two of them. But people, I suppose in general, they love their pets. We all love our pets. and they can get their backs up a little bit if you're pointing the finger at their pets and saying they're causing a downward pressure. But we all need to be realistic and I suppose we need to be adult and we need to start the conversation of what the impact these cats are having on native birds.
And I suppose a lot of people don't realise that although cats are with us for quite a long time, they aren't native to Ireland. So they're a non-native predator And if they're just allowed to roam and do whatever they want in the countryside, they will have a negative impact on our native creatures. And I suppose it's important to say that some of the native creatures that I'm talking about have declined so much in population over the last 40 or 50 years that they're teetering on the brink of being extinct as breeding species in Ireland. So they're right on the edge.
So the native species that you're concerned about, they're some of them in decline. The cat population isn't, though.
No, I mean, I don't have figures for exactly what our cat population in Ireland is.
Isn't that part of the problem though, Owen, that we don't have figures on the cat population?
Yeah, I think as a good starting point would be to get a handle on how many cats are in Ireland, how many are free roaming, how many are part of a household and how many are furled. I think that would be a really, really useful start because it's like anything, when you have no baseline figures, it's very hard to come up with a sensible plan and bring everybody around the table and see what cat owners think is is feasible or responsible and see from a conservation point of view what we believe to be responsible. But it starts with talking and getting around together and those baseline figures are hugely important.
You said there the cats are not native to Ireland, but they have been here for generations. Traditionally used, weren't they, as ratters on farms to keep the population of the rats down and the mice?
Yeah, yeah, they will certainly do that. They will also keep the population, I suppose, of our birds down as well. So it's to have that balanced conversation. They will, I mean, our mice and our rats, and I don't know exactly when cats were first introduced to Ireland, who brought them in and for what exactly.
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